We could limit people to say, 5 attachments a month, and this would lessen overall resource use.

hmm... perhaps the whole attachment thing should be limited to the artist and news forum. i am not sure whether it is needed in the coffeeshop.and limiting it to 5... well, we would miss the fabulous adventures of reynard then... but perhaps they could be hosted somewhere else as well - that's what i try when posting pics (oh, my damned cat is still to large i guess...).